Troubles at London Film and Comic Con- an open letter:

[Zahariel]

The sweeny showing up to switch on the air-con.... did they write the theme tune and sing the theme tune too...Gotta love the infinite imiagination of the human race

[Spookie]

Pasting my post from the deleted "not fiction or drama" thread - apologies for those who read it before, but seeing as I took the time to write it I'd quite like SM to actually read it...

 

Firstly, how about some professionalism, Showmasters - the condescending tone of that post is offensive to all those who have raised valid concerns about real problems that were experienced.

"sorry that some things are not what you all had hoped for" is not an acceptable apology. It's akin to saying "sorry if you think you need an apology". You need to step up and acknowledge the problems that people experienced.

People aren't disappointed because things weren't "what they had hoped for" - it's because things weren't as advertised! If an event this big is put on, it is only reasonable to expect the company running it to deliver a certain standard. For example, the lack of communication outside was appalling - it is completely unacceptable, if you have reached capacity, not to tell people in the queue what is going on for so long. It is completely unacceptable for people to be told to queue in one place, then be moved to another place, only to later be told to move back to the first place and then as a result of the crew's total lack of communication (this is not their fault but the people in charge) have to wait even more hours or not get in at all. Don't tell people that advanced tickets have sold out but not to worry and you still have plenty to sell on the day if the venue doesn't have the capacity! As others have said, you kept saying "this isn't our first event" "we're expecting 80k people" etc (claiming to be expecting 80k and the combined max capacity of EC2 and Brompton Hall comes to 15,750?! That's a FIFTH of the attendees you claim to have been expecting! Surely the only way that would have worked would be if no-one stayed for even TWO hours!!). You can't just say well, everyone who pre-booked got in - it wasn't just a prebook event. Advertising on the day entry continued right up to the event.

To claim the high attendance was something you "could not expect or forsee" is utterly ridiculous. Advanced tickets sold out, for the first time ever we were told! That's as clear an indication as you'll get!

Anyway. I'm really glad some people did have a great time, but I truly feel for the large numbers of people who had such bad experiences at an event many had looked forward to for a long time.

[H.Flook]

There are so many good points being made on this thread.

 

I live in Milton keynes so have been to Collectomania several times but had never been to London Film Comic Con so wasn't sure if it was I experienced on Saturday was 'normal' I'm so glad to see that it apparently was not.

 

I bought tickets for me and my kids months ago and was horrified when we arrived and saw the queues, then I was initially relieved when I discovered we didn't have to join the queue. But then it was such hard work trying to get in, staff were really hard to find and those you did see had no clue what was going on.

 

I simply don't understand why they were allowing ANYONE to buy tickets at the door. They were clearly massively over subscribed. If you're going to just keep letting people in why is it a ticketed event? Exactly what was my ticket fee paying for??

 

Collectomania is FREE and it is still not as busy as LFCC was on Saturday.

 

I just thank God there were no disasters especially as I had my children with me.

 

IMHO if you're going to sell tickets you need to set a limit and state quite clearly, if you don't have a ticket don't turn up because you won't get in, I'm certain there were people there that had got in without a ticked.

 

Come on SM, if you're going to sell tickets you have to JUSTIFY what you're paying for.

[Oneiroi17]

What happened to the Facts not drama thread with 7 pages of complaints yesterday? has it been deleted?

 

I think it was up to 11 pages at the point it got deleted. You can still find the original post (though not the comments obviously) on Showmasters' Facebook page.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Oneiroi17

[RobC]

Have to say I didn't have any issues with knowing where to queue, the post on here by Too Tall explained it very clearly and most of the staff I dealt with seemed to know what was going on. That said I had a normal ticket for Sat and early bird for Sunday. I did have a couple of issues, we were desperately trying to find a certain artist who had been advertised as being there but none of the staff seemed to have any clue as to where (I was talking to the red shirts to find out). If you guys don't know, how are we supposed to find them??

 

The main issue I had was with entry on the Sat, we parked in Red 2 at about 12:30, went straight to the ticket holder entrance at EC2 to find a blonde lady crew member was not letting anyone in as they were trying to let some people out. Fair play, but a in door/out door policy would have been better. The annoying thing was, she was not letting anyone in for ages, to the point where no one was actually leaving through that door, but she just stood chatting to someone and ignoring the plea's from the hot crowd to let us in. Then, she just left the door completely and walked off, didn't tell anyone they could come in or any word at all. What annoyed me more is that the next day, one of the door mats had folded up and people were tripping over it trying to get in, so I patiently wait for people to stop and was about to straighten it out to stop an accident when she shouted at me for trying to use a door that she didn't want people using (I wasn't using the door, I was trying to help). Whoever she was please don't use her again, she obviously has no common sense and couldn't handle the pressure.

 

It does need to be a ticket only event tho, it would make it a lot easier for everyone involved.

 

On the plus side the staff dealing with the photoshoots were excellent.

[HallettAJ]

On saturday, I arrived at around 10am with 3 other people thinking that we'd get into the venue within an hour. We were only expecting the queue to only just curl around the side of the building (like it did when i went before a few years back) but no. We were shocked to see that the queue had stretched down to earls court station and kept going until it ended around the back of earls court 2. After 4 hours of waiting in the sweltering heat we had only just reached earls court station, where the queue had mutated into some sort of zig-zaggy mess. One of the most annoying things however is the fact that during the 4 hours of waiting, we came across 1 crew member who was completely oblivious as to what was going on. Unfortunately, after hearing many rumours that the convention hall was full and tickets were no longer being sold at the door, we completely gave up and left the event. of course, we might've left a few hours earlier if the showmasters crew actually attempted to tell the mile-long queue what was happening at the door, and the fact that the thousands of people waiting to get in had absolutely no chance.

 

There was a complete lack of coordination and organization from the crew members and for the sake of future events, showmasters can't rely on volunteers anymore and should really be hiring staff who can then be briefed on what to do. because on saturday, not one staff member had a clue and we kept being given different answers to the same question from various crew members. It's actually kind of ridiculous considering the massive scale of LFCC, surely the people running showmasters aren't that stupid?

 

But yeah, to conclude, it was a massive disappointment and between the 4 of us we missed about 8 photoshoots and lost £100's.

[Jumpyghostface]

 

By calling me an apologist you are essentially aiming at people like me who enjoyed the event. P)

 

Well no, not really. I, too, enjoyed my experience of the weekend, but that's only because I live not that far away and could afford to abandon Saturday entirely without losing too much other than my prepaid ticket price for the day (and the chance to meet Anthony Head). I think the dissatisfaction I am seeing is that a few (not all) people who did enjoy the day are basically telling the people who had a nightmare time not to make a fuss - they had a good time, so what was the problem? Which is really dismissive and disrespectful to everyone who had a nightmare time. (I have seen quite a bit of this.)

 

It is possible to have personally had a good experience but to acknowledge the very real experiences of those who didn't, without putting the blame on them. I would not have bought suncream at all, if I had been in that position, because I would have not anticipated a four-hour wait.

[mflowers]

I'm not

 

By calling me an apologist you are essentially aiming at people like me who enjoyed the event. P)

 

Well no, not really. I, too, enjoyed my experience of the weekend, but that's only because I live not that far away and could afford to abandon Saturday entirely without losing too much other than my prepaid ticket price for the day (and the chance to meet Anthony Head). I think the dissatisfaction I am seeing is that a few (not all) people who did enjoy the day are basically telling the people who had a nightmare time not to make a fuss - they had a good time, so what was the problem? Which is really dismissive and disrespectful to everyone who had a nightmare time. (I have seen quite a bit of this.)

 

It is possible to have personally had a good experience but to acknowledge the very real experiences of those who didn't, without putting the blame on them. I would not have bought suncream at all, if I had been in that position, because I would have not anticipated a four-hour wait.

I understand what your saying. What I'm talking about though is that the people blaming SM for sunburn etc.) or saying yet should provide free water is ridiculous, I'm going to use this quote from Jael and I hope you don't mind Jael

 

The idea that SM can suddely drum up thousands of bottles of water and sunscreen for those people who haven't even bothered to spend money on their event is laughable. They are not a catering company, or Boots, they dont have instant access to that type of thing, and people should be grown up and look after their own wellbeing. Take some responsibility for your own health, don't expect Showmasters to babysit you. Yes it was a long queue and you may or may not have gotten in, but how you deal with being in that queue is up to you, not them. If you come out inadequately prepared then that is on you.

I completely agree with the overcrowding concerns and a lot of points I do find valid, what I don't find right and what I will argue against is the arguments that are not correct such as "SM shoul give water or I got Sunburnt" when that was the persons decision at the end of the day. I don't bash people for not liking the event and I certainly don't want others to, however calling someone a SM apologist is completely unreasonable but perhaps if people like me are going to be called that I should call those people SM trolls or flamers? Like I said, I completely respect opinions, but I don't appreciate being called an apologist.

[discodiva]

Well don't worry...all our concerns about the safety aspect that were up on the Facebook Page have gone, along with the whole post.....I bet even the "rational" ones will never see the light of day again....

 

 

Shame shame shame...

[jael001]

No I dont mind mflowers, and yes, what happened inside is definitely down to SM, and yes more information should have been conveyed to those outside, with realistic timings etc, but as for water/sunscreen/food etc, that's not their responsibility and if people were getting sunburnt or dehydrated they should have done something about it rather than just stand there and let it happen. It can happen anywhere though, a friend went to a car boot sale and got just as sunburnt, did she blame the organisers? No, that's her own fault for being unprepared. SM are not responsible for the weather or for your personal decision to continue to stand in a queue that wasn't moving. I certainly wouldn't have continued to stand in a queue that was not moving, or barely moving, for several hours once the doors were open, it would have been clear to me that I was never going to get inside if I wasn't in sight of the doors. Sometimes people's lack of common sense baffles me.

[SciFiRob]

Many have been saying for years an e-ticket solution would prove beneficial, both from Showmasters point of view and from the customers.

 

Showmasters spend an awful lot of man hours dealing with online orders, whereas the e-ticket system reduces that by a humungous factor and puts the onus on the customer to print and bring their tickets. It allows sales right up to a few days before aswell and would reduce those massive sales queues inside the event. Sure, it requires some investment in software and phones/scanners/laptops, but think of the tens of thousands wasted on flights for guests who don't turn up etc and it's comparatively small change in the long run, with long running benefits.

 

The time punters spend in sales queues inside the event is dead and wasted - instead of enjoying getting an auto, having a wander, browsing a few stalls (and spending money), they are stuck in a slow moving boiler room of a queue, with stress building slowly. I only wanted a few photoshoots that were announced after the online shop had closed and wasted 2 hours queuing to get them. E-tickets would have solved that as the e-shop could have been open till a few days before...and both UK/International customers could then buy their tickets and not worry as much :)

[Jumpyghostface]

There's always a cost-benefit analysis to be had, though, and what is sensible for one person may not be sensible for another. I was able to walk away on Saturday because I had been on Friday and anticipated going Sunday, and because I live nearby. If I'd spent a great deal on rail fares, etc, had got cosplay together, etc, and this was the only day I could be there, then I can imagine holding on in the queue just in case. Not everybody approaches the event in the same circumstances, and dismissing someone else's decision as down to a "lack of common sense", just because it's not the decision you would have made, isn't really right.

[MiniDawson]

Gonna say it again here.

 

If a lot of the people who have had there weekend "ruined" had of spent even an hour before hand looking through this forum they would have seen things likt where to go, that long queues were expected, a load of posts about what to bring including water.

 

Its all about planning and common sense.

 

and before i get the whole im a SM apologist, im really not im a common sense guy, have made a posts here before about the false advertising of the gold passes etc but come the weekend of the event im there to have fun and enjoy myself, when i was in a Q chat with the people around me have a laugh and lift spirits even after a long time in it.

 

you really get out of it what you put in in my experience, if i had of had my usual early bird or standard ticket for this weekend i would have bought a shed load of in queue entertainment and survival pack. even with a gold pass i was still equipped with a book, MTG cards, Zombie Dice, drinks, a hat to keep the sun off, something to use as a fan etc.

[Clarkey]

 

Someone should answer the question why the fire exits were chained up. Pretty sure that's illegal as it has a massive health and safety risk

That is down to the venue not event organisers.

 

 

That is the most stupidest thing I have read in this thread. Just because the venue had the fire exits chained up then SM take no responsibility? They were hiring the damn venue, fire escapes and health & safety should have been their NUMBER 1 priority. So if we want to ask SM why the fire escapes were chained up then we should be able to ask them and they SHOULD be able to answer because they SHOULD have asked the same damn questions to the venue managers.

 

As I said, the most stupidest thing said in this thread so far.

[hullcitysteve]

I think we maybe have to look at it more from the point of view of the average family that might be thinking of heading to an event that looks interesting at Earl's Court, not regular convention goers. I think LFCC is on that scale now.

 

They are going to have a look at the website, like the look of what's on offer, see that there are "plenty of tickets to buy on the door" and turn up. They would expect that the information they need would be on the website and wouldn't expect to have to read through various forum posts to find out what they need to know. They would certainly expect to find anything as serious as "you might not get in or might have to queue for more time than you'll get to spend in the venue, as we've sold so many tickets" to be on the front page of the website.

 

They certainly wouldn't be expecting a 6 hour queue, and at at the very least would expect to be told that on arrival with lots of staff and signage on hand so that they could make a decision about whether to stay or go home.

 

I did do a certain amount of planning and buying in advance as I've been to lots of these events before, but I feel terrible for all the people who were relatively new to this sort of thing and who will never come again after having such a miserable day.

 

We had a situation at my local football club where people queued overnight for FA Cup Final tickets a few months ago, where there were 1000s outside the stadium. They did know they were going to have to queue all night, but even so the club took it on themselves to make it clear they appreciated what they were doing and that they took some responsibility for looking after them, even ordering a huge amount of pizza during the night and handing it out.

 

If you don't look after your customers they just won't come back. Most of them won't be on here trying to offer constructive criticism like we all are, they'll just have decided that this is not for them and they won't come again, which I think is a real shame as it can be a brilliant event.

[robertderidder]

Gonna say it again here.

 

If a lot of the people who have had there weekend "ruined" had of spent even an hour before hand looking through this forum they would have seen things likt where to go, that long queues were expected, a load of posts about what to bring including water.

 

Its all about planning and common sense.

 

and before i get the whole im a SM apologist, im really not im a common sense guy, have made a posts here before about the false advertising of the gold passes etc but come the weekend of the event im there to have fun and enjoy myself, when i was in a Q chat with the people around me have a laugh and lift spirits even after a long time in it.

 

you really get out of it what you put in in my experience, if i had of had my usual early bird or standard ticket for this weekend i would have bought a shed load of in queue entertainment and survival pack. even with a gold pass i was still equipped with a book, MTG cards, Zombie Dice, drinks, a hat to keep the sun off, something to use as a fan etc.

 

Actually I have been to a number of SM events, including the busy LFCC with the heroes cast, and I hadn't expected anything like this. I am sorry I even told people on here beforehand that they would be fine if they arrived before 8.

 

I was very lucky to get most of the autographs I wanted, but it was partly due to luck as I decided not to have breakfast in my hotel and join the queue when the gates opened.

 

In fact, none of the moderators here expected anything like this, and they know what happened at every SM event.

 

Also, people keep saying that SM expected 80,000 people to come and that the venue wasn't up for that. Actually, what SM have said is that last year's event had 80,000 visitors and this years would be busier. So they fully expected to be able to handle that amount of people.

 

So what went wrong?

 

Basically the whole scare about meeting Stan Lee and the factual impossibility for him to sign for everyone and have photos with everyone that wanted him, meant that more people showed up early, because they (rightfully) feared to miss out on Stan. Thus from the start the queues were far longer than they have ever been and would never dissolve as Stan would never be able to fulfill the needs for autographs and photo shoots and thus too many people stuck around hoping to meet Stan, which they wouldn't.

 

Unfortunately this also meant that people who did not want to mee Stan suffered, because the entire venue stayed at full capacity because loads and loads of people did not leave for not having met Stan.

 

After having heard last year that 80,000 people had visited LFCC I was surprised, but it also did not make me question the numbers for this year, as I assumed that the venue could handle it, based on last year. I think that Jason did too.

 

So do I blame Showmasters? Well yeah, up to a point. They should have limited the number of people to get an autograph with Stan and sold less photoshoots. By leaving things open like this, many more people stayed in the venue than they did in previous years. But I do blame Stan's people equally, as they should have alerted Showmasters to this, as the problem must have been seen on other events where Stan has been too.

 

What I do strongly hold against Jason is the absolute arrogance of not coming to the forum and admitting he made a mistake. He has to apologize because as organizer of the event all blame lies with him, even if he didn't see it coming. But as I commented on this board last year, every response from every organizer of these types of events is always the same: "Don't people understand that we are too busy to comment on every single thread? We are too busy wrapping things and doing important things to interact with our paying customers and their petty problems."

 

Really? Do you expect us to believe that Jason personally has to haul every autograph booth divider out of the venue himself? That he has to sweep the floor himself? That he is so busy driving the guests back to the airport that he cannot find the time to apologize?

 

Let's face it. He knows what people are putting up here and he is afraid to take responsibility. And the longer it takes, the more difficult it will become.

Edited July 15, 2014 by robertderidder

[jael001]

To play devils advocate here, in the case with the football club I assume during the night there was nothing else going on so the organisers had time to do nice things like order pizza. While LFCC was taking place and while there were lots of issues to deal with inside, there was never going to be time for SM to deal with those queing outside and organising things like water etc at the last minute when their priority had to be dealing with the many issues inside the venue, surely everyone must realise that?

[robertderidder]

To play devils advocate here, in the case with the football club I assume during the night there was nothing else going on so the organisers had time to do nice things like order pizza. While LFCC was taking place and while there were lots of issues to deal with inside, there was never going to be time for SM to deal with those queing outside and organising things like water etc at the last minute when their priority had to be dealing with the many issues inside the venue, surely everyone must realise that?

 

Except that you can't separate the two, as they are directly related.

I mean to say, that by not communicating to the people in the queue what was going on, they were indirectly responsible for the problems arising outside.

Edited July 15, 2014 by robertderidder

[Raylenth]

Gonna say it again here.

 

If a lot of the people who have had there weekend "ruined" had of spent even an hour before hand looking through this forum they would have seen things likt where to go, that long queues were expected, a load of posts about what to bring including water.

 

Its all about planning and common sense.

 

and before i get the whole im a SM apologist, im really not im a common sense guy, have made a posts here before about the false advertising of the gold passes etc but come the weekend of the event im there to have fun and enjoy myself, when i was in a Q chat with the people around me have a laugh and lift spirits even after a long time in it.

 

you really get out of it what you put in in my experience, if i had of had my usual early bird or standard ticket for this weekend i would have bought a shed load of in queue entertainment and survival pack. even with a gold pass i was still equipped with a book, MTG cards, Zombie Dice, drinks, a hat to keep the sun off, something to use as a fan etc.

To a degree yes, I always bring drinks simply because these kind of venues are always so expensive. However there are things that can be done to help. When I arrived at Earl's Court and was confronted by the massive queque at the gate there was no indication as to what it was for - I presumed it was for people waiting to get in to Stan's events. I walked round the front to realise it was the day entry queue and had to go all the way back around - I'm not fussed that it meant I was a lot further back in the queue because at that point it really didn't make a difference. A staff member with a large overhead sandwichboard saying 'end of day ticket queue here' would have helped. They can be taken to each event and are then on hand if needed.

[discodiva]

 

 

Someone should answer the question why the fire exits were chained up. Pretty sure that's illegal as it has a massive health and safety risk

That is down to the venue not event organisers.

 

 

That is the most stupidest thing I have read in this thread. Just because the venue had the fire exits chained up then SM take no responsibility? They were hiring the damn venue, fire escapes and health & safety should have been their NUMBER 1 priority. So if we want to ask SM why the fire escapes were chained up then we should be able to ask them and they SHOULD be able to answer because they SHOULD have asked the same damn questions to the venue managers.

 

As I said, the most stupidest thing said in this thread so far.

 

Apparently myself and others on the thread "misinterpreted" this comment...

[hullcitysteve]

To play devils advocate here, in the case with the football club I assume during the night there was nothing else going on so the organisers had time to do nice things like order pizza. While LFCC was taking place and while there were lots of issues to deal with inside, there was never going to be time for SM to deal with those queing outside and organising things like water etc at the last minute when their priority had to be dealing with the many issues inside the venue, surely everyone must realise that?

 

They were working 24/7 to deal with all the media enquiries, planning and organisation that happens when a small club suddenly finds itself about to play in one of the biggest games in world football with a couple of weeks notice, so they were pretty busy too to be fair :) They just expected the queues and put on extra people to deal with it.

[Raylenth]

 

Gonna say it again here.

 

If a lot of the people who have had there weekend "ruined" had of spent even an hour before hand looking through this forum they would have seen things likt where to go, that long queues were expected, a load of posts about what to bring including water.

 

Its all about planning and common sense.

 

and before i get the whole im a SM apologist, im really not im a common sense guy, have made a posts here before about the false advertising of the gold passes etc but come the weekend of the event im there to have fun and enjoy myself, when i was in a Q chat with the people around me have a laugh and lift spirits even after a long time in it.

 

you really get out of it what you put in in my experience, if i had of had my usual early bird or standard ticket for this weekend i would have bought a shed load of in queue entertainment and survival pack. even with a gold pass i was still equipped with a book, MTG cards, Zombie Dice, drinks, a hat to keep the sun off, something to use as a fan etc.

 

 

Basically the whole scare about meeting Stan Lee and the factual impossibility for him to sign for everyone and have photos with everyone that wanted him, meant that more people showed up early, because they (rightfully) feared to miss out on Stan. Thus from the start the queues were far longer than they have ever been and would never dissolve as Stan would never be able to fulfill the needs for autographs and photo shoots and thus too many people stuck around hoping to meet Stan, which they wouldn't.

 

Unfortunately this also meant that people who did not want to mee Stan suffered, because the entire venue stayed at full capacity because loads and loads of people did not leave for not having met Stan.

 

After having heard last year that 80,000 people had visited LFCC I was surprised, but it also did not make me question the numbers for this year, as I assumed that the venue could handle it, based on last year. I think that Jason did too.

 

So do I blame Showmasters? Well yeah, up to a point. They should have limited the number of people to get an autograph with Stan and sold less photoshoots. By leaving things open like this, many more people stayed in the venue than they did in previous years. But I do blame Stan's people equally, as they should have alerted Showmasters to this, as the problem must have been seen on other events where Stan has been too.

 

 

 

Maybe for the big guests in the future they need to ensure that they can be put in an entirely separate area with dedicated doors and an entry ticket only for that area, get some moveable panels and separate it off - that way the rest of the event can go on, people who aren't interested in that guest can get in and get on with their stuff but they can still go and see that person if they wish, they wuld just have to go to the dedicated area.

[GoldenGreen]

As all of us that are on here know the forum is a great place for information and also advice (, many of us were giving plenty of it in the run up to the weekend and I think most people were predicting it was going to be busier than ever particularly on the Saturday). However, I suspect a lot of people who attended probably never even viewed the forum so were reliant on what was on the website and I do take on board the point that it says very clearly, in red in fact that plenty of tickets are still available for purchase on the door, although it does say on a first come , first served basis, however I think most people would read this and think there was a good chance of getting in.

 

However, this is a bit of a catch 22, because if Showmasters say tickets are very limited, then chances are a lot of people then won't try and turn up as they won't think it worthwhile and you may then find the opposite happens and the venue has plenty of spare capacity and then it could impact on financial viability of the event. You don't want to be giving a message about your event which pretty much says don't bother coming.

 

I think they key area that needs to be addressed in relation to Saturday is the communication to those waiting in the queue who turned up on the day with no tickets. I still don't think Showmasters should be or are responsible for providing water, sun cream etc and even if they wanted to it wouldn't have been realistic to at short notice on the day. I do think they could have communicated better with people in the queue to give them a more realistic expectation of their chances of getting in and also what the impact of them not getting in till later would mean, e.g. missing photoshoots / talks etc

 

I know in the past there had been a thought that a lot of people came to these events on the early bird and then go by late morning, but I think this has significantly changed in recent years. Most of these people that used to be in early were the more typical autograph collectors, where as the big growth in attendance has been in people who are Cosplayers and other fans who only get 1 or 2 autos and a photoshoot and really come now to enjoy the atmosphere and whole day, so they don't leave late morning. This has already come up at another Showmasters event, so I think you can realistically expect that this weekend would be the same, in that people were not going to come early and then leave, but would stay for the whole day. If you then look at early bird tickets you have sold, this will give you a fair idea of numbers across the day and hence the opportunity for pay on the day guests to get in.

[jael001]

There's also the case of, if you're getting photoshoots, that they may be very spaced out so you can't really leave. I had 4 photoshoots in the morning on Saturday, went to the Sherlock talk and then had nothing until my last photoshoot at 5pm. I found a seat and basically dozed off and/or read my Kindle. I couldn't get near the stalls for a look around and didn't want to risk going outside in case I couldn't get back in for my last photoshoot, so I just stayed where I was. Because we don't know when the shoots will take place til the week of the event (which I totally understand), there's no way to avoid clashes or big gaps like that.

[robertderidder]

I know in the past there had been a thought that a lot of people came to these events on the early bird and then go by late morning, but I think this has significantly changed in recent years. Most of these people that used to be in early were the more typical autograph collectors, where as the big growth in attendance has been in people who are Cosplayers and other fans who only get 1 or 2 autos and a photoshoot and really come now to enjoy the atmosphere and whole day, so they don't leave late morning. This has already come up at another Showmasters event, so I think you can realistically expect that this weekend would be the same, in that people were not going to come early and then leave, but would stay for the whole day. If you then look at early bird tickets you have sold, this will give you a fair idea of numbers across the day and hence the opportunity for pay on the day guests to get in.

 

Except, if 80,000 people actually visited last year, why didn't the same problem arise? I think, yes there will be cosplayers that stay for a long time, but a lot of people do go in and out of the venue during the day. They don't stay inside all the time.